Tournament Scenario (this time with your hand!)

[ChrisW]

Tournament is 3-handed; payouts are 50/30/20.

Button has T700
You (SB) have T2,600
BB has T10,200

Blinds are 75/150. The button folds; the BB is a decent and aggressive player. You hold 99. Do you raise (how much?), fold, or move in, and why?

[Toro]

I voted fold for 2 reasons. The blinds aren't big enough to make it worth tangling with the big stack yet and the small stack is on life support. I don't want to hand him 2nd money if the big stack happens to find a hand. So I would rather be patient for a bit and give him a chance to bust out.

[jeeves]

You left out an option - I would vote for complete.

99 is a good place to start 3 handed. I'd put the extra 75 in and hope to see the flop for cheap. At that point, since you don't really want to get into it with the big stack when the small stack is about to bust, I would play the hand only for set potential and fold to any raises if the flop didn't hit me pretty hard.

Though, if you have a read on him that he'll frequently steal raise from the BB, then it might be best to fold (this hand will usually require some finesse), even though it's a weak play.

[Benholio]

I voted for #1. While you might not want to tangle for your whole stack with the short stack so low, you have enough chips to try and pick up the big blind here without crippling you if he comes back over the top and you have to fold. With the bb at 150, 450 is a good standard raise, and doesn't represent enough of your stack to force you to 'all-in or fold' mode.

Having said that, I think tangling with the big stack isn't THAT bad of a play here either. You have no guarantee on second place, the short stack only needs to double up once to be in competition with you. You are playing for first place here, and this might be your best chance to double up off of the big stack.

The more I think of it, the more I think you should be willing to get it all in on this hand if it comes down to it. If the short stack had 150-300 chips or something, it might be different.

[Dominic]

I voted for raise to 600, then call an all-in or move in on a re-raise.

My reasoning is simple:

I'm not going to move all-in pre-flop right away...the blinds are too small...the raise to 600 should tell the BB I've got something. This gives him the opportunity to fold. If he's a bully and re-raises me, I'm going to then move all-in, as he very likely does not have me beat at this point and it's not so horrible being in a coin-flip situation, since he's got me outstacked 5-1.

Why not move all-in right away? Because I want to give him that opportunity to fold to my raise. And if he re-raises me and I go all-in, it's doubtful he'd fold to that, but you want to give him the chance to...

Folding 99 three-handed is not an option.

Moving all-in gives him the chance to suck out on you with a hand like QT, so I don't like giving him the chance to see all five cards.

Completing is not bad...it gives him the chance to raise you on a bully bluff...you can them re-raise all-in and expect him to fold most of the time.

But raising to 600 is my preferred choice. Even with 99. I hate that hand!